J Gerontol Nurs. 1992 Oct;18(10):27-32.
Self-care teaching for congestive heart failure patients.
Bushnell FK.
1. Elderly patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) have
a high incidence of mortality, morbidity, and hospital
readmission. 2. Descriptive research of 41 patients with chronic
CHF found that almost all patients could not correctly define
CHF, less than half could correctly identify their medications,
and almost three fourths of patients did not weight themselves
daily. 3. The self-perceived reasons for hospitalizations
included shortness of breath, swelling of limbs, exercise
intolerance, and eight other symptoms. 4. Some of these patients
were able to follow self-care intervention during their hospital
stay, which included daily weigh-ins, taking medications at the
bedside, ordering a low-salt diet, and identifying symptoms of
CHF.
PMID: 1479155 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
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